FRAMINGHAM, MA–The Aligarh Alumni Association of New England is organizing its annual mushaira, ghazals and qalaam program this Saturday, Aug. 20, at Joseph Keefe Regional Technical School in Framingham, MA.
“In the Greater Boston area, the Aligarh Alumni Association of New England has been organizing these mushairas each year since 2002. There is a flavor in poetry that reaches every taste and every heart. People usually wait for our Mushaira,” said Noman Siddiqi, president and coordinator of the AAANE Mushaira.
International and local poets this year include: Naseer Turabi, Iqbal Ashhar, Shakeel Azmi, Haider Jaleesi, Muneebur Rahman, Gauhar Azmi, Sana Qureshi and Saleem Khanani, according to the organizers.
Keeping up with it tradition, AAANE celebrates “Sir Syed Mushaira” event annually where international and local come together once a year to enthrall their poetic audience and keep them enchanted and entertained with their ghazals and beautiful qalaam.
The Saturday evening will start at 6:30 pm with a reception and meet and greet meeting. Mushaira will start at 8 pm at the Joseph Keefe Regional Technical School, which is located at 750 Winter Street, in Framingham.
Each year, the Federation of Aligarh Alumni Associations, the apex body which coordinates on behalf of all the Aligarh Muslim University Alumni Associations of North America, organizes an international mushaira in which renowned poets from India, Pakistan, Canada are invited to present their writings.
“There are nearly 18 formally organized AMU alumni associations across the country, and these poets will travel all over these cities and engage with the audiences, which crave for such literary expressions. These annual mushairas, so to say, celebrate the Ganga-Jamuni (tehzeeb) or culture, in which we all grew up,” said Ali Rizvi, an ex-president of the FAAA and AAANE.
He said there has been an emergence of mushairas and kavi sammelans across the globe. The themes in these mushairas address the current and emerging trends.
Before India’s independence, there were more inqilaabi or revolutionary poets. Poets like Ali Sardar Jafri, Majaz, Maghdoom, Kaifi Azmi, Jaan Nisar Akhtar, Sahir Ludhianvi, Majrooh Sultanpuri come to mind, said Rizvi.
“Many of these wrote in films and people like Javed Akhtar entered shayri in later years after their success in films,” said Rizvi. “With time, the trend is more towards philosophical poetry and poetry that unifies….. talks of universal peace, brotherhood, equality for all, irrespective of caste or color or religious boundaries.”
Tickets cost $25 and can be brought online at www.aaane.us or at the door.
AAANE Contacts: Noman Siddiqi: 617.759.1899; Ashraf Khan 508.579.9764; Masarrat Ali 781.883.5311; Ali Rizvi 973.220.2713; Sadia Chaghtai 508.842.0105; Homaira Naseem 508.869.6464; and Humera Kirmani 781.402.0116.
